, 1887-10-29
VIEWING THE HUB.
A Visit TO the Geographical Center
of Wealthy Wyoming.
Flowing Springs and Lake of Oil in
the Immediate Vicinity.
Enough Coal in the Locality to
Supply the Entire World.
gy TerrItorIaI GeoIogIst Rockets. ]

A monument on a sandstone bluff in
the midst of a small area Of bad lands was
pointed out to me as being the geograph-
ical center of Wyoming. To one unac
quainted with the resources of the coun-
try nothing could appear more desolate
than the immediate surroundings. The
country is rough aud broken. 1t can be
described as steep hills and rugged gulches,
no water nor signs of water except in the
deep and straight up walls of the dry
canyons washed out through the soft dry
soil by occasional heavy rains, no trees, no
grass, no vegetation even, without an
irregular growth of sage brush and grease
wood might be called vegetation. Here,
a stranger might say, is the great Amer
lean desert. Or some might express their
thoughts more forcibly by calling it the
notorious half acre popularity supposed to
belong to the realm of the king of dark
ness. Let us examine the country more
closely and see if this half acre is actually
as black as nature seems to have painted
it. Riding to the top OF the small hill on
which the monument is built, you see to
the south long ridges of rock running
parallel to each other and in a north
westerly and southeasterly direc.
ton, each ridge higher in its
sequence until finally the top Of Il
low mountain is reached. A spur from
Garfield peak forms the sky line. On
going to this mountain the scene changes
most ~miraculously. Streams, small, it is
true, but ever flowing. and clear and pure,
pour down the gulches. Pine trees and
aspen grow In many places and high,
thick bunch grass covers the slopes with
a thick verdure. Many cattle and horses
are there, all tat and sleek.
But it is not TO the grass, nor the cattle,
nor the beautiful and home-like ranch of
Mr.. Ervay hat 1 wish to call attention.
1t is to the natural of the coun-
try from a miners standpoint that rem
ders it important.
The rock forming the core of the noun
tain and outcropping in places is granite;
while on the northeast slope the various
sedimentary formations outcrop in the
order of their natural sequence. First
gray sandstone and white limestone; then
a large amount of bright red sandstone,
similar to the red rock about Laramie
City, with lower down on the noun
tain slope white sandstone and
limestone. A high bluff of con
more or less oil. 1t smells distinctly OF
oil and is stained with it, and is often
completely saturated with it. This gives
the first intimation of the Importance OF
the country, but it is by examining the
gullies which cut through the rock that
we see the strongest indications of oil.
On going down the various gulches In
which the oil occurs you first notice the
characteristic smell which soon tells you
that an oil escape is near, and finally you
reach an oil spring, or several of them in
a group. These springs lie on either side
glomerate formations with intercalated
strata of coarse, porous sandstone, forms
the base of the mountain. 1t extends
for miles parallel to it, only broken by the
frequent gulches cut by the streams,
which flow from the springs and melting
snow above. This coarse rock and con.
glomerate is what is known as the Dakota
group and forms the bottom of the crea'
taceousrocks, while the Laramie group of
rocks form the top of The same formation.
On examining the outcrop carefully
the sandstone is often found to contain
of the stream. The oil slowly escapes
and flows out over the ground and, the
lighter constituents evaporating, a hard
black crust of hardened oil remains.
This hardened OIL mixed with the
dust which blows into it and the rock
which roll off the hill into it, and with the
flying and creeping things which get mixed
in it, forms a compact mass, from one to
five feet in thickness, often covering an
acre or more IN area, and by the slow but
steady accumulation of the ever escaping
oil, it gradually increases in quantity. In
color the oil is usually greenish when it
first escapes, and always black after a
short exposure to the air. 1t is \thlck,
much thicker than the Eastern oils, and
contains less illuminating and more Of
the heavier oils. 1t is not my purpose TO
enter into a detailed description of the
oil in the springs, however. Suffice it TO
say that such springs, practically alike in
appearance, exist on Wallace, Graf,
Lovett and Rogers creeks and in various
other localities.
On going further to the northeast we
pass over shales and standstones, and the
latter often show the stain and smell of
oil, and in at least two places oil escapes.
Finally, however, we come to rock which
no longer shows indications of oil. These
are chiefly sandstones. There is also
much carbonate of iron in irregular layers
which of neither of sufficient purity nor in
sufficient mass to render it of economic
importance,